1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reel on which recording tape such as magnetic tape is wound and to a recording tape cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
As external storage media for computers and the like, recording tape cartridges that include a case housing a reel onto which recording tape such as magnetic tape, for example, is wound are known. The reel includes a hub, which configures the axial center portion of the reel and around whose outer periphery the magnetic tape is wound, and an upper flange and a lower flange, which project outward in the radial direction from both axial line direction ends of the hub.
In a recording tape cartridge, the recording tape is wound onto the reel and the reel is rotatably housed inside the case. A leader member, such as a leader pin, leader tape, or a leader block, is disposed on the distal end (free end) of the recording tape.
When the recording tape cartridge is loaded into a drive device and the recording tape is wound out, pullout means disposed in the drive device pulls out the leader member from an opening in the recording tape cartridge. Then, the recording tape fixed to the pullout member is wound onto a take-up reel of the drive device.
In the reel of the recording tape cartridge, the recording tape is ordinarily wound around the outer peripheral surface of the hub. The upper flange and the lower flange are disposed on the top and bottom of the hub, the height position of the recording tape in the vertical direction is limited by the upper and lower flanges, the recording tape is retained such that its wound form is satisfactory, its running stability is improved, and excessive damage is prevented when the recording tape is not in use.
Incidentally, oftentimes the hub is formed in a bottomed circular cylinder shape where one axial line direction side is open and the other side is closed. In the hub formed in such a bottomed circular cylinder shape, the open end side, whose strength is low, is easily deformed by the winding pressure of the magnetic tape. When the hub becomes deformed in this manner, the flange disposed on the open end side of the hub becomes deformed in the direction in which it contacts the width direction end portion (edge) of the magnetic tape.
For this reason, a configuration that reinforces the hub with a metal ring in order to prevent deformation of the hub, such as the configurations described in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) Nos. 2004-14022 and 2005-116163, is conceivable, but when the outer peripheral surface of the metal ring is covered with resin by insert molding so that the metal ring and the resin are integrated, the position of the metal ring becomes shifted by pressure applied by the resin during injection molding when the metal ring is not properly fixed inside the mold that molds the hub.